Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Justice League vs. The Legion of Super-Heroes #2 - Preview and Spoilers

Via AIPT and Via Comic Book Dispatch

more on the origin of Gold Lantern, at least!

So Invisible Kid was left behind in the future?

These pictures look great Nighty, thank you for posting them!

So there's a page where Dawnstar's with Naomi, having heard the Legionnaires refer to her as "Queen Naomi." When Naomi asks what this means, Dawnstar replies she's not sure because "she's not from anywhere near Earth and knows absolutely nothing of its history."

Despite, y'know, that her people are historically descendants of a Native American tribe who were taken from Earth.

Kind of a weird vibe that, as Supragirl pointed out to me, Bendis would put further emphasis away from Dawny's heritage. Even though Ryan Sook strove to give her a more respectful design as an indigenous character.

Yeah, there were a lot of odd beats here. I need to collect my thoughts on it a bit for a proper review, as there were basically two stories going on here, one of which worked better than the other.

But this Dawnstar thing certainly jumped out at me, as well as a couple other things that were dialogue dead ends.

Also, this is the 18th issue of this new Legion where Vi has not spoken a word (she's not even in this one).

The Legion was working so hard to be as passive and inoffensive as possible when dealing with the League through this book they felt like drones

You could probably skip this issue, pick up the next one and not really notice much of a change. Just an extra line or so needed on the next mandated recap page.

The only one who considers this Darkness threat to be Great is Brainy. The rest of the cast, and certainly the readers aren't shown anything of the sort. A character concluding that it's the end of all things, is simply Bendis making the basic error of knowing the plot but forgetting to inform the readership through building dramatic tension. The most tense part of this issue was figuring out what was on the menu in the Leigon canteen.

Bendis is also trying to mine a bit of Crisis, with events happening at multiple points across a single timeline. He even mentions Crisis, as he floudners a bit trying to figure out why the events unfolding aren't just seen as recurring.

The bits with Gold Lantern were fine. I can only hope that the formation of his Gold Lantern Corps is related to the other events, to tie both plots together. Otherwise, it's an origin story that could have been told in half an issue of Secret Origins. It will be interesting to see why Gold Lantern was the only one who remained in the 20th century. About the only character moment I recall is for Bendis' own Naomi. In the future, she will be remembered as a queen. A queen of everything in Mary Sue Land, no doubt. The rest of the cast don't have much to do, except wkae up in the future and wathc Black Adam fire some energy through a blob in the sky (I was going to say fires energy through a rift in spacetime, but that would make it more exciting than it was).

It's an amazingly quick read. DC should have put a blurb on it saying that we too can find out what it's like to read a comic with the powers of The Flash.

The art is the strongest part of this. You can gaze across a city of the future from a balcony for a bit, to pad out your reading time. Perhaps next issue, Oliver Queen will decide to stay in the future and operate a tour bus franchise.

^ If this whole series is secretly an origin story for Oli-3 Queen!

I liked the top panel on page 23 (I think) of Gold Lantern flying across Metropolis to meet the Darkness thing. It reminds me of one of the panels from Crisis #3 showing various Legionnaires in flight above the city (maybe that first one of Kid Psycho flying to his doom?).

Pros:
- 31st Century and Legion is shown off to the readers that are only here for the Justice League.
- the art is pretty good
- the Gold Lantern background is actually interesting - what there is of it - such an amazing story, can't wait to hear the rest of it! (moderate sarcasm)
- I like the Legion assigning members to help the JL adjust when they wake, with two examples and a follow-on conversation that shows it happened to all of them
- the JL being awed but pleased to see that there is a positive-appearing future is a nice note that I don't remember being used before
- the older more experienced team taking charge when the younger newer team hesitates works for me - not what I would want to see going forward but at the moment ok.
- Gold Lantern initially rejecting the ring because he saw himself as a teacher to inspire and not a warrior to deliver justice, and this being why he was chosen is interesting

Cons:
- Gold Lantern initially rejecting the ring because he saw himself as a teacher to inspire and not a warrior to deliver justice, and all we have seen of him to this point pretty much is enthusiastically fighting is contradictory
- Batman takes charge is appropriate to his character. Batman's first approach is to charge at the darkness is not appropriate. he is a great hand to hand combatant but he is also mostly known for his smarts and detective skills so I imagine a stop and think would fit better
- the Great Darkness has done nothing so far except appear in the sky, apparently connect 21st Century to 31st Century, and transport the teams back and forth a bit - oh and age Luornu crimson, that was pretty unpleasant and threatening
- once again not a lot happened. There is advancement but miniscule. What there is is somewhat entertaining but not really dramatic. I guess I expected more for 22 pages.

Neutral:
- Gold Lantern is blind and mostly perceives others thanks to his ring (I guess)? That's interesting and potentially fuel for plot/character but maybe it is just a huh moment
- the atmosphere of 21C and 31C is different, smells or tastes different to entities from the other, and requires a bit of adjustment (although the Legion seemed fine in 21C last issue). Hmm. Maybe interesting.

Overall I just felt like I was starting to get into it - and the issue was finished.
I remain glad that we are getting some Legion in comics and we have certainly had worse than this. I guess I was hoping for more.
Well I will continue to hope for more in the future.

Interlac translations:

(Page 1 opening and the brief bit on page 17 at Oa are the same as the English captions.)

page 4
guy gardner trial.
administrative
defense footage.
green lantern
corps archives.

page 5
the great
darkness
anomaly

the justice
league legion
of superheroes
meeting

all opinions expressed by the gold lantern
are theirs and do not necessarily reflect
those of the planetary oa, united planets,
or the legion of superheroes,

If the real Garth were here he would've called out Bruce's crap in like a minute

I find this corporate-type disclaimer very hilarious, I see it all the time in the work I do!

Thanks for the translation, stile! I had the first three, but couldn't be bothered to do the last bit.

I'll be probably posting an actual review with a grade tomorrow; work's kept me WAY too busy yesterday and will again today....

One thing that jumped out at me was that the Letterer had some challenges this issue.

Notably, Lightning Lad is misspelled when the character introduces himself.

But there is another exchange during the flashback where Kala is talking with Gdon but there are two others in the background. By the conversation context, it seems as if the background characters are speaking, but the lettering makes it look like Gdon's voice.

Bad attention to detail for a book that has been delayed.

HA ha! I hadn't noticed.

"I am Lighting Lad, founding member of the Legion.

I make sure every room in the headquarters is appropriately lit so no accidents happen (except for Shady's room - she prefers to handle that herself)."

Justice League vs The Legion of Super Heroes #2

Released 3/8/2022
DC Comics, Color
22 Pages

"The Gold Lantern Saga: Part Two"
Brian Michael Bendis - Writer
Scott Godlewski - Art
Dave Sharpe - Letters
Michael McAlister - Editor
Paul Kaminski - Senior Editor

Synopsis

Two stories -

Gold Lanterns history - A year prior to the current tale, Kala is a brave soul who rescues others at his own risk gains the attention of the new masters of Oa who offer him the role of Gold Lantern. He politely declines, but something has to have changed his mind.

The main story consists of Gold Lantern trying to find his way back to his own time via a giant darkness anomaly over Metropolis. The rest of the Legion AND the JL are in the 31st century. Magenta Trip is still old, but no one else has suffered any affects. We are given adjustment scenes from Ollie and Naomi's perspectives, then the teams reconnect at lunch. The anomaly appears in the future. Black Adam charges at it, energy is discharged, Gold Lantern can communicate with his team in the future and Brainy declares this the end of all things.

Commentary

So. Chapter two. I will say that it was better than issue 1. More happens to move things along, but I felt it could all have been a lot more economical. I have to say that I am definitely interested in Kala's story. I want to know the path that he took to become a Gold Lantern. Its obvious that Bendis has taken some time to flesh out this backstory and has been wanting to tell this story. The problem with the issue is that it takes the other story and pads it out with expansive two page spreads, which are well done by Scott Godlewski - without question the best part of this comic. The end is a bit uneven, with an interesting story about Gold Lantern told at a good pace with the Darkness Anomaly story told with large two panel spreads that don't convey much story progress.

Dave Sharpe drops the ball big time in two places; early in the flashback scene when Gdon is talking with Kala, Gdon has a certain style for his word balloons. This style is given to fellow Applozans who Kala had earlier saved. The context makes it clear, but the error is glaring. Later on, he misspells Lightning Lad to LIGHTING Lad. Really? Dude's not in charge of a stage presentation, guys.

Spoiler time

Ultimately - Issue 2 is better than issue 1. The plot progresses, but not much. Art is the best part of the story.

Grade - B-* - Asterik means very much subject to change. The minus is due to the cost of the comic relative to the story provided. Given the cost, I expect more story in these 22 pages.

thanks for the read and review, GL! always nice yo read your perspective... and helps me think about whether I want to get a copy.

Well I just finished reading Part 2 of this team-up. I wish the Legion played a bigger part in the story though. In terms of a positive pay off for waiting longer due to a delay in releasing issue 2, it didn't really happen for me. The JL appears almost everywhere in the DC universe already, in my opinion ... I was really hoping that Bendis would use this mini series to try and give some extra focus onto the Legion as a whole, not just Gold Lantern. Too much exposition about Gold Lantern (we are made to feel a strong importance for this character despite the fact that he is "new" ... at least from a characterization standpoint), and not enough from the Legion side of things.

But Gold Lantern is his creation (as is "Queen" Naomi) so he has free marketing/promotional control over these two properties I guess.

And yes, Shrinking Violet STILL has not uttered a single word since BendisLegion first began! Maybe she remained small and hard to see in this issue!! Ha Ha!
Oh well .....
Hopefully we get to see more of the Legion in the rest of this story. And on-going series of their own after this mini series would be even better!!! I will remain hopeful.

Thanks for the review GL. Not bad. Fairly similar to my own view, although I liked Diana's part and the idea that seeing a positive seeming future would be encouraging for the JL, particularly after all they have (relatively) recently been through with Death Metal.

Something that seemed obvious to me but may not have been to everyone, Black Adam shoots (magical?) lightning into the darkness in 31C and lightning immediately erupts from the darkness in 21C. To me this is meant to show Adam's lightning travelling directly through, and links with B5 being able to hear GL as well.

I do expect that there is something more for B5 to reveal explaining his sudden despair, and I agree with you, GL (oops maybe too many GLs), that I will be very disappointed if that doesn't happen.

I actually felt that the space given to the JL and the space given to the Legion was fairly balanced, which was as I hoped and expected. Admittedly the JL is more well known and appears frequently as you mentioned Catonyx while the Legion has its (effective) 12 issue limited series, a brief appearance in Millennium (despite it being in the title) and the two Future State books (which every title had) so I can understand you hoping for more, but I am just pleased for them to be getting some exposure to JL fans.

Page breakdown
Gold Lantern backstory - 6 pages
21C Gold Lantern - 4 pages
JL/Legion wakey wakey - 3 pages
Naomi/WW - 2 pages
JL/Legion Darkness - 3 pages
JL/Legion/GL - 4 pages


So Gold Lantern alone gets 10 of the 22 pages, JL/Legion share 10 pages and Naomi/WW have 2 pages looking at the wonders of the 31C.

It would have been nice to see the Legion take a more active role though. Remember the dynamic at the end of the Reboot between Legion and Titans, how the Legion was described as the seasoned professional team while the Titans were more of a club? Feels a bit like we get the reverse here, which I suppose has some basis as the JL are a well-established team with experienced heroes while the Legion still has the squeaky-new feel to it. Perhaps that says more about the pace of Bendis plotting after 12 "regular" issues. Still while the JL has a take-charge attitude, the Legion do dive in to carry their own weight - and it is the JL in the form of Black Adam that "breaks ranks".

I've come to realize another point about Bendis's Legion and why I hate it.

His Lightning Lad brings absolutely nothing to the plot, and if you were to remove him from the story it wouldn't change or impact anything at all. He has no chemistry or any real connection with Bendis's Cosmic Boy or Saturn Girl.

You remember how in the other Legions people would misunderstand why Garth was there, acting like he was lucky to be included when Rokk and Imra saved R.J. Brande because he supposedly wasn't as smart or as capable as them? Well now that's not a misconception, it's true. The only reason Bendis's Garth is in the Legion is because his version of Ayla refused to join at first because she didn't want to be a sellout. Compare that to the Garth who sacrificed his life to save Saturn Girl and had multiple people willing to die to bring him back. Or the Garth who kept the Legion going when half of the team, including his own sister, were stranded in the past.

Garth's supposed to be one of the founders. He's supposed to be part of, if not THE, heart of the Legion, and Bendis's version lacks that.

Ah, Lighting Lad, part of the Legion of Keeping the Place Cozy, along with Heating Lass and Laundry Kid and Cornucopia Queen.

The famous Legion of Interior Decorators.

So the great darkness really is a massive threat after all. The dark portends the redecorating to come from Kirtan-Rodd, Mr Nebula!

Fear not, for Lighting Lad will save us all!

Watch for the Scarlet Skier in #5 and the reveal that Gold Lantern is the inheritor of G'nort's ring in #6!

On a more serious note, I've always been intrigued by what the Legion thinks of the various 20th/21st century heroes, other than Superman, whom they idolize.

It could be a hoot for them to meet Batman and somebody whisper later, 'Batman's real? I thought he was a myth!' or something, to play up that it's been a thousand years, with historical records being lost or distorted, and that not everybody would necessarily have Superman's golden reputation. Or Tinya to be all hero-worshippy of Wonder Woman, and question why everyone isn't deferring to her judgment since 'obviously, she's the League leader, and has been for decades, just as she was for the Justice Society before that, right?' (and would steadfastly refuse to believe any correction of her beliefs that included information like, 'no, Wonder Woman was the Justice Society's *secretary'*)

Just funny and not-necessarily remotely correct stuff. Somebody like Green Arrow might be disturbed to find out that nobody recognizes him, or says stuff like, 'Oh, like a boy version of Artemis!' or 'Oh, I remember, the archer-guy with the bionic arm? I thought you wore red, though?' and Tyroc meets Black Canary and says that he'd never seen an image of her, only of Black Lightning, and thought that she might be an ancestor of his, with similar sonic powers, until he saw that was not, in fact, Black Black Canary.

Anywho, interesting choice to put Dawnstar and Hawkwoman together on a cover, since we saw Dawnstar a decade or so back dating a Thanagarian lady. Deliberate shout-out or coincidence? I'm leaning towards coincidence...

Action Comics #864 had Garth spending the day with Superman and Batman, and throughout the whole thing Garth's just not impressed by Batman at ALL. Like, whatever it is that makes Batman BATMAN, Garth doesn't see it. And it's not the type of thing where he refuses to recognize Batman's shtick, Garth acknowledges it and it does nothing for him.

I love it.